Means for tying containers to freight cars



P 1934 (5. R MEYERCORD 1,974,686

MEANS FOR 'IYING CONTAINERS TO FREIGHT CARS Filed D80. 21, 1931 PatentedSept. 25, 1934 Par-Em omen I iunsnsfron'rvmo communes 'ro FREIGHT 1 ,(ifse "Ru Meye oril. Gliicago, 111-, s-

, gne y e ne ass nm nts, to, Reconstruc- 1 tion Finance Corporation, aFeder'al corpora- Application nam 21, 1931, Serial No. 582,382

'ZCla'ims. 01. 105 -36 "The. Pres nt invention relates to the art ofshipping goods, in lcontainers that form units of; ieet onalcar bodies,which units, may be removed rom the. arstand. e transp rted to discharge:3?! points or to receiving points. The object of the P es nt inventionisi'toiseoure such'containersto ease s -Masimn emanner. 1 i

1,; A; fur her object of thepresent, invention is to nmyide m ans foreiiectivelrholdingthe afore- 219.5 mi. ooo e nersvupon o dinary fiatcars. without: requ rina'any considerable chaneest-o be made inshatters, a

.pue to, rough handling of cars or trains, where'- haters arecausedtoston suddenly, or due tojthe M2:- brineina, a oeethen. oi, wo crs rwhose relative movement toward ieaohwothera is ;at;,ancomn1fativeir'hi h. speed, thefastenings between; heavily loaded:contanersresting onifla cars and th c rs have enormous stresses imposed onthe same. I If;

89 he iest ninss are ri id. 1 they are apt to fail orelsecausethe-oontainerstob dama ed: Viewed mom of its aspects, thepresent invention may be,

d to have, for its object toiprodnce simp and novel means for tyingcontainers upon a flat car, $5.551 or a similar bed or floor of afreight car, in such a manner that they will yield and cushion theshocks imposed upon the containers during rough handling of the cars;thereby causing the shocks or blows gradually to be absorbed withoutinjury Qfitafto the fastenings or to the containers or their contents,and without permitting the containers to shift their positions to anobjectionable degree.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterizedwill hereinafter be *figjf'pointed out with particularity in the claims;but for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects andadvantages, reference may be had i to the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawing,

Figure 1 is a side view of a fragment of a flat car, showing portions oftwo containers tied to the car in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2is a vertical transverse section through the bed of i fiathe flat car,at one side, showing the anchor on one of the ties, partly in section;Fig. 3 is a section taken approximately on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, theanchor being inclined, as in Fig. 1, instead of upright, as in Fig. 2;and Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing a modification.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawing, 1 represents a side sill and 2the floor of a fiat car which, together, may be termed the bed of thecar. On the bed rest containers which, as is Wticustomary, are longenough to extend from one side of the car to the other. In the drawing,I haveshown only two of such containers, B and 4, as my inventionwill'readily be understoodfrom a description thereofin' connection withone or two containers.

Each container'is preferably tied to the car at four points, namely, inthe vicinity of the. four corners-between the upright walls. In the arslrangemen't shown,- the end walls of the'container are provided with eyes5at "opposite sides of the end walls at a considerable distance abovethe floor of the car. The eye shown on theccntainer 3 corresponds inposition to the-eye on the righthand side of the container which is'notshown in the drawing; and, similarly, the eye shown on thecontainer 4corresponds to the eye on the lefthand side of the container 3,alsoomitted from the drawing. In any event, long ties 6 are 0011- nectedto the eyes, preferably in such a manner that each tie ispermanentlyattached at one end to a container and is free to swing about 'its pointof attachment. On the free endoi each tie is a head or anchor 'Tadaptedtobeinterlocked with a part of the car body. Each tie is also show ascontaining a turn buckle 8 by means of which it may be lengthened andshortened.

After the containers have been properly positioned on the car, the ties,suitably elongated, are engaged with the car body at their lower ends,and the turn buckles are then tightened so as to draw the ties taut.

In accordance with one feature of my invention, I provide each tie witha section in the form of a strong spring 9 that must be stressed inorder to elongate .the'tie. Therefore, when two cars are broughttogether at a comparatively high speed, or when the brakes are suddenlyapplied to a car, the tendency of the containers to shift theirpositions on the car or cars is not completely resisted, but the tiesmay yield and thus cushion the shocks that would otherwise be harshlyimposed. At the same time, the containers will not be allowed to shifttheir positions enough 0 be objectionable.

When in their holding positions, the ties may be upright or be inclinedat any desired angle to the vertical. I prefer, however, to place theties at an angle to the vertical, those on each container on the sameside of the car being inclined in opposite directions. In this way thepulling force of each tie has a horizontal component, tending to holdthe container against shifting lengthwise of the car, as well as avertical component that serves to hold the container down.

The heads or anchors on the ties are preferably so fastened that theymay rock and thus permit the ties to swing about their points ofattachment to the car. The capacity of the anchors to rock, whileenabling them to be quickly attached to and detached from the car, maybe provided by forming each anchor with a segmental toothed bar 10, theteeth 11 of which mesh with rack teeth 12 fixed to the car and overlyingthe segment'on the anchor. The rack teeth 12 are distributed lengthwiseof the car in any desired order or arrangement. As shown in the drawing,the rack teeth are formed on a rail 13 extending lengthwise of the carjust underneath the floor and welded or otherwise secured to the sidesill. The rail has at the top an outwardly projecting flange 14 that ispreferably curved so as to form an inverted trough. The rack teeth arelocated within this trough, extending transversely across the interiorthereof. The toothed segment lolies on one side of the shank or stem ofthe anchor so as to form with the latter a device in the nature of ahook. Therefore, when the anchor is engaged with the rail, as shown inFig. 2, it cannot slip 01f in the lateral direction or slide lengthewise of the rail, but is free to rock on the rail.

If desired, the flange on the rail may be formed as indicated at 15 inFig. 4, being provided with holes 16 extending therethrough anddistributed lengthwise thereof. The anchor must also be modifiedsomewhat for cooperation with'the rail. Thus, the anchor 17 may have aplain curved bar 18 corresponding to the toothed segment 10, but havingthereon simply a single tooth or projection 19 adapted to enter any oneof the holes 16 in the rail. By making the tooth or projection 19frusto-conical, the anchor is notronly locked against slipping but mayrock back, and forth on the rail.

It will thus be seen that I have provided extremely simple and novelmeans for quickly and easily tying the containers securely to the car.It will, also be seen that, in the most highly. developed form of myinvention, the containers and their contents are'protected, to'a largeextent,

against the shocks to which they would be subjected if the containerswere rigidly fastened to the cars, during rough handling of the cars.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a singlepreferred form of my invention, with a single modification, Ido notdesire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustratedand described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which comewithin the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with the bed of a car, of a container resting looselythereon, a longitudinal rail on the side of the car, a tie connected atits upper end to the container at a considerable distance above the bed,the under side of the rail being in the form of an inverted trough, rackteeth distributed along the trough, an anchor on the lower end of thetie, and a toothed segment on said anchor meshing with the teeth on therail, the parts being so constructed that the segment rocks on the railand maintains a straight line connection through the tie member from thecontainer to the rail.

2. The combination with the bed member of a car, of a box-like containermember resting loosely on said bed member, ties at opposite sides ofsaid members connected at their upper ends to the container member at aconsiderable distance above the bed and at their lower ends to said bedmember, the connection between each of said ties and one of said membersconsisting of a horizontal rail fixed to that member and an anchor onthe tie hooked over the rail, said rail being provided with rack teethdistributed along the same, and said anchor having thereon atoothedsegment meshing with the teeth on the rail, the parts being soconstructed that the segment rocks on the rail and maintains a straightline connection through the tie member from the container to the rail. II

GEORGE RUDOLPH MEYERCORD.

